


Haven't We Been Here Before?

by DrPaine



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Black 2 & White 2 | Pokemon Black 2 & White 2 Versions
Genre: Gen, Mild Blood and Injury, Mild Cursing, Nuzlocke Challenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-13 12:41:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18469183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrPaine/pseuds/DrPaine
Summary: She's never met any of these people, but she knows their names, and the connections they share to a withdrawn trainer from some two years ago.(A Pokemon White 2 Storylocke, playing heavily on elements involving the Memory Link. Also I suck at summaries.)





	1. Not how anyone wants to start

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Catch only the first pokemon in a given Route.  
> -EXCEPTION IF: It is shiny. Screw the rules, it's a shiny!  
> -EXCEPTION IF: It is a duplicate. (Applies across evolution lines- can't have a Liepard and then catch a Purrloin, whether or not it's fainted.) 3 tries before giving the route up as a bust.  
> -EXCEPTION IF: It once belonged to another trainer. (May wait for it to appear, but cannot catch anything else there, even if it faints/catch fails.)  
> -Gift pokemon may be accepted, but they count as an area's encounter. Ignore in-game trades.  
> -NO EXCEPTION: Legendary pokemon. I can get all of them again in the post-game.  
> 2\. If a Pokemon faints, it's dead. Box it. No Ghosting for HM users.  
> 3\. All Pokemon must be named. (Exceptions made for those who refuse names.)  
> 4\. Limit healing items- up to 12 per type. (excluding revives/max revives, those are immediately sold).  
> 5\. No strict limit on level grinding- Unova isn't super friendly to it anyway, but just keep things within reason.  
> 6.The rules lift upon beating the Champion.

Midnight wasn't anyone's first choice to start this, but like hell if I'm letting the snow screw me over for  _another_ two months.

Okay, I exaggerate- it's only ten at night, we're still shy of midnight, but the point is: it's late, it's cold, I'm pretty sure we'd all rather be doing something else; but winter sucks and we've all got to deal with it. I don't mean to sound ungrateful though, quite the opposite! The fact that the professor's assistant is still trekking out here to do the official Pokedex hand-off is amazing in itself, and the new gym leader coming with her promised that he'll run a late match so I can get my first badge before gunning it to Viribank. Said it's a courtesy check more than anything- I've had Shoal for a couple of weeks now, we've been taking what clear days we can to train up before the gym finally opened.

"Watch, you'll probably evolve mid-fight with the leader at this point," I laugh, ruffling the thick fur on Oshawott's head. Hugh had... well, he'd had a lot to say about my choice in starter. Something like 'it's winter, you're going to freeze or get covered in ice, you'll freeze up the route,' blah blah blah, big words coming from Sir 'I'm training my  _Snivy_ on Route 19 in the dead of winter'. And besides, the route's been frozen from here to the Ranch for three months and Shoal didn't even use any actual water moves.

 _"Showa!"_ Shoal waved her little arms before turning to the door as Mom came in, pretty covered in snow but grinning.

"They made it in! Aurea called me a few minutes ago, their ship got into Viribank and they should be here soon."

Shoal cheers louder than I do, tossing her scallchop in the air with a flourish before I recall her to her pokeball, cramming it into my coat pocket and grabbing my bag. I know, I should say thank you, or 'thank Corona they made it through', but I've had my journey delayed too damn much.

"Now, you'll be meeting up with Bianca, okay? She's going to be at the overlook behind the Pokecenter, she's not too hard to miss. Just look for a girl in a green hat, got it?"

"Mm-hm, yeah! Green hat, behind Pokecenter, love you mom bye I'll call you when I'm in Castelia!"

She says something else, but it's lost in the sound of the wind at the door.

\----

Aspertia can't even really be called a town, let alone a city. I can see the Pokecenter's lights from the end of the short street my house is on; it's not far a walk and an even shorter run. There's only two other houses along the road, the same sort of prefab style mine is, but mostly there's just empty lots of torn up dirt and mud, with a few snow-locked palettes of bricks and wood scattered throughout.

Depressing in the light of day.

Kind of eerie when it's night, the sky's overcast and the most light you have for a mile is a patchy half moon, because yeah you go and check your bag fifty times before leaving and  _still_ forget your flashlight.

"Hey, slow down!"

To my credit, I don't actually draw any blood when I slip and drop onto the asphalt while trying to grab my Pokeball. Shoal bursts out, braces herself and launches towards the approaching footsteps before I even issue the command.

There's a thud.

_"What the hell?! Shoal, no, it's me!"_

And... crap. I'm not hearing the end of this any time soon.

The clouds have the gall to clear up as Hugh slowly makes his way towards me and I limp towards him. Shoal just trots along, tossing her scallchop back and forth as proud as she'd been the first time she knocked a Patrat out in one hit.

"You told me you would call when the professor's assistant was in!" is the first thing Hugh says once we're close enough. "At least your mom remembered, geez..." He doubles over, rubbing his knee and glaring at Shoal.

Sorry feels painfully inadequate, so I focus on recalling Shoal and going to Hugh's side, supporting him as we continued onward.

"At least you've taken care of that thing," he says after a little while.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah," I say, managing a weak laugh. "Hey, you and Lottie told me to take care of her, you think I'd risk upsetting you guys?"

His expression brings to mind that Buffolaunt that got lost from the ranch last summer. Sick of everyone's crap and ready to charge, so it's probably wisest to back down.

"Aright, so I totally would and do risk upsetting  _you_ ," I concede, "but not Lottie! Especially... y'know. If I tell her I'm going to be good to a pokemon, I mean it."

He looks less grim, at least.

We don't talk as we walk the last block, and by the time we're turning the street for the lookout, Hugh can walk on his own and the clouds have rolled back in. He still decides to sit on the bench at the bottom of the staircase while I go on up. Just as promised, up on the lookout square is a woman in a hat, the light of the buildings below enough to confirm that yep, it's green as Snivy's tail.

"Bianca?"

She startles and turns, her expression relaxing once she sees me. "Hello! You're here for the Pokedex, right... uh, right," she says more to herself, digging through a rather large bag and taking out a scrap of paper. "Oh... only got the last... no matter, that's enough. It's Whittmore, right?"

"That's me." I make my way forward as she digs through the bag again, retrieving the pokedex... es.

"Juniper told me to bring two, just in case. I didn't believe her when she said how cold it was, but gosh!" Bianca gives an exaggerated shiver, giggling to herself. "I mean, they should work fine, but I'm thinking maybe she was onto something, now. Anyway!" Bianca draws herself up, putting on a more serious expression as she offers the device, and-

It's promptly interrupted by Hugh charging up the stairs, shoving in next to me. "You said you have two Pokedexes?" he blurts, breathless and wide-eyed.

"Yes?" She tilts her head-

And there's a flash somewhere just behind and above her, in the clouds; something red? And ever thing feels upside down, I cling to the railing and rub my eyes for a moment as the two of them make sounds far away, then Hugh touches my shoulder and makes sounds close by that I'm pretty sure are supposed to be words.

"Wha?" I mumble, shaking my head and taking in a deep breath, the cold air helping clear my head.

"I said, you okay? What was that?"

"Dizzy... did you see something back there? Something red..." I shake my head at his expression and brush past him. "Nevermind, it was probably just a plane. Sorry," I say, smiling as convincingly as possible to Bianca. "It's been a while since I've been up here, I think I just had a little vertigo attack, y'know? All the excitement can't be helping."

"Oh, that's okay," she says, though her tone is as convincing as my expression.  
_But she's never been good keeping emotion out of her voice._

"Exciting for sure, Hugh's going to be taking the challenge too!" she continues, truly bright this time.

I roll my eyes, but smile at him all the same. "What, afraid you'll get bored without me bugging you?"

He doesn't look angry. He doesn't look... much of anything, actually, not in that moment.

"It's how you can go out and get stronger, right?" he says, perhaps the quietest I've ever heard his voice. "Go out and train... and if I'm going to fill this up, I'll have to travel all over Unova. I'll be able to... I might be able to find some of Team Plasma, I can get Lottie's Purrloin back."

"Oh."

Even less adequate than 'sorry'.

"I'll see you in Viribank, okay? There's a ship going out a bit after eight, that's the one you were going to take?"

I nod, and he replies in kind. Gives me a light punch on the shoulder as he takes off down the stairs and towards the gym. I suppose I owe him one for siccing Shoal on him earlier.

\----

The two of us seem to come to at the same time.

"Well! I hope he can find what he's looking for," Bianca says, giving herself a little shake. "Hopefully he won't be too much trouble for Cheren..."

"They'll be fine," I say, managing to smile again. "I'm sure he's faced a tougher Snivy."

_He has._

"He has." There's something wistful in Bianca's voice there, as she steps towards me with the Pokedex. "I hope... oh, no, I'm sure he'll be fine. Anyway! Your Pokedex, Ms. Whittmore," she says, holding the device out.

_Finally!_

My hand's shaking a bit from the excitement as I take it, and my fingers brush hers.

  
_Three teenagers hesitating before a brightly wrapped gift._

_Munna squeals and tries to squirm away from the kicks, Bianca screaming for the armored assailants to stop as they turn on her friend._

_Samurott and Emboar by a trembling Serperior's side, while Bianca and Cheren sit silently searching the wrong part of the sky; goodbye would hurt too much-_

_"-delivered to Paine's house, so he gets first pick-"_

 

 

There's a slap.

My hand stings.

Someone calls my name, someone yells _'wait, who-'_ ; the gate blurs into Route 19. I know I should stop, go back and apologize even if I somehow didn't just go and slap Bianca. I know that, but there's only going forward and faster until I slip on the icy mud, crash face-first into the ground as a new voice  
_(no, I remember him)_

splits the night- "You there, Trainer!"

I look up and see bright, bright orange. It's not Corona materializing to save me, but it's close.

"Alder?"

"And who are you?" he asks, helping me to my feet. There's worry in his voice, suspicion too, I'd be suspicious of me. Especially when I spit out a piece of bloodied ice and wipe my face only to realize I'm bleeding all over the Champion of the Unova region.

"Paine-" I croak, closing my eyes and just following as much as he leads me; I'm not sure my knees can last.

"I'd imagine you're hurt. We'll get you fixed up, don't worry. Not too much farther."

Everything's swimming, worse when I shake my head and I  _really_ don't want to go and puke on this guy. It registers, dimly, that we've made it to paved road. "No. That's... name," I say, and if the soreness didn't make it apparent, my voice confirms I've at least sprained my nose. "My name's Paine."


	2. Catch Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my lovely @pderdy for beta-ing this <3

Did you know that Potions work on humans? Cause I sure as all hell didn't; and I tell Alder as much, though it comes out more along the lines of "Podins worp n hubans?!"

He has the politeness to laugh, handing me an ice pack before sitting down in the chair across from me. It seems counter-intuitive, considering how the injury came about in the first place (honestly, I'd been surprised I didn't actually have an ice shard lodged up there), but between the potion and the cold, I can feel the swelling start to go down. Or I'm just... like, numb, but either way, it doesn't hurt as bad and I can focus on other things.

Like that I've slapped a professor's assistant who showed up at the middle of the night to the ass-end of nowhere, Unova, through the worst winter we've seen in like ever, just to help my league challenge. Or that I'm sitting in the... a? A home of the Unova Champion after bleeding all over him. Or that I know that I _know_ him, just like I know Cheren's faced a strong Snivy and that seeing one be his first opponent as a gym leader is going to rattle him but he's always been good at staying calm, Bianca probably would’ve started crying if I picked one myself-

and wow okay maybe focusing on a hurt nose is better let's do that now!

Except it doesn't really hurt any more. It's just cold.

Feels like my face is wet.

Alder's staring at me, and I finally realize my fingers are cold and wet too, I've dug my fingers into the pack so hard that it's ripped in a couple places. Whoops.

"Sorry," I finally get out, shaking my head and shifting the pack so it's not leaking all over. "Just uh... just hurt really bad right there. Got dizzy."

Alder nods, but given the way he's frowning, I'm not sure he buys it. Not that he looks angry, more just... puzzled. The kind of look you give someone you run into at a family reunion, before someone tells you they only married your cousin a month ago and you've never seen them in your life.

"So. I'm supposing you've come from Aspertia?" he asks instead.

"Yeah. And uh... sorry for any racket," I say. "I was hoping to just get through here quietly tonight-"

He cuts me off with a wave of the hand, shaking his head. "It's no worry," he says. "We're used to passerby at all hours, especially ever since construction started down your way. No, it's just... curious. You said your name is Paine?"

"Yeah. Paine Whittmore if you need the full thing-"

"Ah," he says quietly. "I had wondered... but, I suppose it's not so unusual. I knew someone by that name not too long ago, I simply wondered if there might be any connection; unless you have relatives out in Nuvema?"

I shake my head, setting the ice down. "Nah. I think I've got some family around Anville Town though." Which was the... what, tailbone end of Unova? Not quite nowhere, at least it was connected by the rail lines.

"I see.” He seems lost in thought. I should probably say something.

There’s a beautiful quilt on the wall behind him, a Volcarona worked into about a hundred little patches of fabric, all just different enough shades to give it the illusion that it shimmered like real coals.

“Now then!” I jump slightly as he claps his hands together and speaks. Way too brisk, way too bright, but I’ll thank Corona and whatever else is out there that we get to change the subject. “What brings you around here this time of night?”

"League challenge," I say. "I know, it's weird, but this is the best chance I've got to get started before the season closes y'know?" Okay, so the season would close in around a month, but it was still at least three weeks until spring.  Even the mildest years could still see snow halfway through springtime, and with a winter like this... well, we were starting to think we'd be lucky if we saw a summer. "In fact... crap, what's the time?"

"Half past eleven," Alder says, after glancing to an old clock against the wall. Alright, not quite as bad as I'd thought, but still. If I'm going to beat the morning storm, I need to get going, so I stand up and offer my hand.

"Thanks for the help, and I’m sorry to leave so fast, but I’ve gotta get on a ship as soon as possible. And I'm really, really sorry about all that, it's... it's just been a bit of a weird night."

He nods, and to my relief, he doesn't press things. Or shake my hand. But he does ask to see my Pokemon, which... well, that's not too weird I guess. Probably some honor-bound thing to make sure trainers are ready or something. I release Shoal, who immediately puffs out her chest, stubby little arms at her middle as she sizes up the stranger before her. I can't help but smile- and quietly pray that she recognizes Alder as a human, not some weird fire-maned pokemon to fight.

"Well!" Alder laughs after looking her over for a moment, seeming truly relaxed for the first time. "Ordinarily, I’d offer to train up any newcomers before they head out to Viribank, but I'd say you and Oshawott here should be just fine against anything in the Complex. Make sure to keep each other safe out there, though." He pauses- no. Hesitates, giving Shoal a pat on the head before leading me to the door. “The rest of Unova isn’t as kind as it is here.” With that, Shoal and I step out into the chilly night, and Alder turns back in.

We stand there.

It's kind of pretty, actually. Alder's house is on a bit of a hill over the rest of the area, so we can see all of it from up here, now that the sky's cleared up. Only two or three houses- just like Aspertia isn't a city yet, it looks like Floccesy’s more of a neighborhood than anything else. There's another building that might be a store, and houses for the couple of other families who work around here. A clock tower (I can’t make out the details, but the shape is much like the clock in Alder’s home), and... some building in front of it I can't quite identify yet, it doesn't seem to be much, anyway. There's not much other light either. Aspertia has a few streetlights at least; all I can see here are a couple porch lights on the houses.

"Well. We should get going, right? How're you doing out here?" I finally say, looking down at Shoal. She gives a little shrug in reply, and I smile at her. Hugh always freaked out about me having her out training by the creek...  well, maybe he'll crack open that pokedex and figure out just how dense an Oshawott's fur really is.

 

\---

 

The moon's a bit lower in the sky, so I know a decent bit of time has passed; I could  _really_ use that clock right  now. Also a map.

I cannot _believe_ -

"Nope. No, I totally believe I'd forget my map," I mutter to myself, clearing the snow from a small rock and sitting down to rest my legs. We've been walking a while, veering to and from the main path to see if any of the little side paths might lead somewhere helpful.

"You don't happen to have some kinda internal compass in your brain, do you Shoal?" I call. She looks up at me for a moment before returning to her patrol of the area, slicing at some of the taller tufts at grass with her shell now and then. A Patrat pops up, baring its fangs, but one good smack from Shoal sends it scurrying back underground.

Maybe it was just the dark and bad angle, but _man_ that thing looked thin.

All the wild pokemon around here’ve been looking thin though.

The thoughts kind of float there, of how bad the winter's been here, reports we've heard of how bad it's been getting even around the real cities, how the pokemon around here are going to make it. For that matter, how _we’ll_ make it-  the land here is great if you're raising grazing pokemon, but it's not exactly cut out for large-scale farming. Too many rocky hills where there isn't forest. Makes me wonder why there's such a push to expand the couple of towns that are  here, but what do I know?

I slowly become aware of a tapping against my leg, looking down to find Shoal trying to pull me up. "Something wrong?"

She points towards the main path, where I can make out a figure approaching. I leap up, crouching slightly because... instinct I guess, even though if it came to it, I'm pretty sure I'm not one who’ll be fighting.

"You two can calm down, it's just me!"

"What're you doing out here?!" I blurt. Even though he's not close enough to see it, I can just _feel_ the eye roll Hugh’s giving me.

"I _was_ going to Viribank, I thought you'd be there by now. Either way, I'm supposed to give you this."

I manage to avoid adding a... what, fifth by now? embarrassment to my hour-long trainer career, catching the box he tosses my way without falling or dropping it into the slush at my feet. The latest style of trainer maps: fully electronic, with a GPS that mostly functions even during bad weather. Which, upon turning it on, helpfully informs me that I'm at the end of the driveway of Floccesy Ranch.

Well... crapbaskets.

"Thanks," I say, managing to keep my voice somewhere near civil. "So, how'd being the first opponent of Aspertia's gym leader go?" I ask, picking my way through the clearer parts of the path towards Hugh.

"Pretty good." He shrugs, but there's a bit of glee in his voice that's hard to ignore.

"Come on you nerd, 'fess up!" I give his shoulder a shove as we walk. "Last time you said something went 'pretty good', you'd found out Willas had that thing that made him grow super fast..." Lucky bastard.

"Alright, so maybe it was a completely flawless victory," he relents, positively grinning now. "And only with Willas! I mean, I know he's tough, but you should see that Lilipup Cheren has, it's huge! And Patrat's got those fangs, I thought Willas was going to lose a couple leaves, but no! He didn't take a hit! I mean, maybe he was taking it easy on me, but who keeps using Work Up that much _without_ attacking?"

I grin back, stooping just a moment to pick Shoal up before she gets too tired, as Hugh keeps talking. I almost want to ask about... everything else, but I haven't seen him this happy in weeks, it's best to let it run as long as possible.

So of course, that's when we hear a shrieking howl rise up somewhere behind us. We pause, looking at each other for just a moment before we both race back to the ranch.

**Author's Note:**

> So! Here's my attempt at a story-driven Nuzlocke run! Will be cross-posted to the Nuzlocke forums, and update as regularly as possible. That said, I'm fairly rusty at writing in general, let alone doing any kind of series; so I'm not setting a schedule beyond 'aiming for one entry a week'. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy- and thank you for reading :)


End file.
